20 women, children trampled to death in struggle for free flour

[Naveed Yaseen]

KARACHI (September 15 2009): A stampede killed up to 20 impoverished women and children, crushed in a stairwell and alley, when charity workers handed out free flour Monday, officials said. Dozens of women and girls from poor families converged on the first-floor office of a small charity in the crowded neighbourhood of Khori Garden in the hot afternoon of Ramazan.

"We have so far received 20 bodies of women and girls while the injured are more than 30," Amin Khan, an official at Civil Hospital Karachi, told AFP. City police chief Wasim Ahmed said at least 18 women and children died in the stampede with dozens of others injured.

"The deaths were caused by suffocation and the stampede in one of the most congested localities of Khori Garden, where a charity was distributing free flour among hundreds of women and children during Ramazan," he added. Women clad in black burkas sobbed and wailed as ambulances screeched through the streets, ferrying the bodies and injured to hospital, where panicked relatives searched for their loved ones and dead bodies lay covered in sheets.

"I have lost my little daughter," cried Karima in hospital. "I wanted a bag of flour for my family and my greed punished me so gravely," she sobbed. A private security guard responsible for making sure the women formed an orderly queue baton charged the women when they became impatient with the long wait, said police and witnesses.

"The women got scared and tried to save themselves... which caused the stampede," said local police official Hashmat Ali. Injured Salma Qadir, 40, said the women wanted to get their rations quickly but were beaten by a guard. "The women scared and tried to turn back, which scared others and resulted in a stampede," she told AFP.

Several dozen women's shoes, sandals and slippers were left lying on the road outside the distribution place in Khori Garden, a warren of narrow lanes and side streets ill equipped for large crowds, an AFP reporter said. "Fortunately, my mother and sister have survived and I am searching for their shoes and scarves here," said teenager Mohammad Kashif.

Shops in the area closed as a sign of mourning after the tragedy as women and children wailed outside the crowded emergency ward of the Civil Hospital Karachi where bodies and the injured were transported. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an immediate investigation into the incident and medical treatment for the injured in Karachi.

Our staff reporter Aamir Majid adds: Talking to Business Recorder, one of the several injured, Amna Bibi said the incident had taken place due to mismanagement during the distribution of free Zakat ration. The resident of Lyari said she was looking after three children of his son, who was killed in a gang war in the town, and that she reached the spot for free ration for a month after performing the duty of a maid at a bungalow.

Another victim, Kalsoom, said: "I am the resident of Machar Colony. All of a sudden, a stampede broke out when a large number of women, suddenly changed their route for ration."

According to the CMO CHK, the dead included, Amina, Tasleema, Roshna, Zahore Bibi, Samina, Shahida, Nousheen, Nargis, Robina, Shahnaz, Shabana, Noreen, Munawara Begum while the bodies of three other women could not be identified and sent to Edhi Morgue for want of identification. Moreover, the families of two women had removed their bodies from the spot without legal proceedings, he added. He said the injured included Robina, Kulsoom, Mehnaz, Maryam, Nargis, Purkhat. The names of six other could not be ascertained, he added. Sources at Kharadar police station said no FIR had been lodged against the chief of the charity till late night.

Faheem Ahmed Siddiqui, District and Sessions Judge, South, Karachi has been appointed as Enquiry Officer to conduct the inquiry into the tragic incident. He has been asked to submit a report to the government within 7 days. Meanwhile, Sindh government has announced compensation of Rs 1,00,000 to legal heirs of each deceased. Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Sindh Minister for Home Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, Health Minister Sindh Dr Saghir Ahmed and other provincial ministers and advisors has condemned the incident.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=961216